ABSTRACT

In the European Union’s (EU) new Strategy for Central Asia, which was launched in May 2019, boosting the resilience of Central Asian societies is singled out as a key priority. Drawing on post-development thinking, this article argues that if the EU is serious about promoting resilience to empower ‘the local’ and contribute towards a truly sustainable future for the societies of Central Asian countries, then the EU will need to embrace a de-centred, post-neoliberal approach to resilience. This implies that the EU would have to accept ‘the other’ – in this case, the Central Asian societies – for what they are and advocate home-grown self-organization based on a deep understanding of the local meaning of good life and local knowledge about the available resources. Empirical illustrations to substantiate this claim are drawn from a concrete case, namely the mahalla in Uzbekistan.

摘要

在 2019 年 5 月启动的欧盟 (EU) 新中亚战略中，增强中亚社会的复原力被列为关键优先事项。借鉴后发展思维，本文认为，如果欧盟认真考虑提高复原力以赋予“当地”权力并为中亚国家社会真正可持续的未来做出贡献，那么欧盟将需要接受一个去中心化的中心的、后新自由主义的复原力方法。这意味着欧盟将不得不接受“他者”——在这种情况下是中亚社会——的本来面目，并提倡基于对美好生活的当地意义和当地知识的深刻理解的本土自我组织关于可用资源。证实这一说法的经验说明来自一个具体案例，